Two-banded Puffbird - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Dave B Smith
Cano Colorado, Venezuela.

Hypnelus bicinctus

Identification

20-23cm.

• Brown upperparts with whitish spotting
• Large head with white mask around eyes, which extends as a semi-collar on the neck
• Off-white chin, buff underparts, and two dark brown to black chest bands
• Below lower chest band frequently additional dark spots and dark streaking at flanks
• Long tail with square tip
• Eye yellow to whitish
• Large black bill with hook at tip

Distribution

Colombia and Venezuela.

Taxonomy

Formerly included within Russet-throated Puffbird.

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized^[1].

• H. b. bicinctus:

• Northeastern Colombia (llanos, east of the Andes) and Venezuela from Falcón (except for the Paraguaná Peninsula) to northwestern Amazonas and northern Bolívar; populations in northern Falcón may merit recognition as a separate subspecies

• H. b. stoicus

• Isla Margarita (off northern Venezuela)

Habitat

Woodland to scrubby areas with some trees, but seems to avoid dense forest where it mainly frequents edges. mostly below 500 m asl, but sometimes slightly higher.

Behaviour

The diet includes insects (especially beetles?), and some fruit or berries (may also capture small vertebrates). These are captured with the bird still on a perch, seemingly for long periods, between sallying out for a capture.

Vocalisation

Both a simple and a more complex song pattern has been described; both are frequently given as duets.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.1)_red. Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.1. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
3. Greeney, H. F. and P. F. D. Boesman (2022). Two-banded Puffbird (Hypnelus bicinctus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (B. K. Keeney and N. D. Sly, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rutpuf3.01

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Two-banded Puffbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Two-banded_Puffbird

External Links

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